Hennessey Performance Venom GT screams to a record 270 mph: Watch

On Feb. 14, 2014, the Hennessey Venom GT set a new world speed record for two-seater sports cars by reaching a top speed of 270.49 mph.

On Feb. 14, 2014, the Hennessey Venom GT set a new world speed record for two-seater sports cars by reaching a top speed of 270.49 mph.

Amy Hubbard

The Hennessey Performance Venom GT barreled down the space shuttle landing runway at Kennedy Space Center recently, blazing a speed record -- faster than previous record-setting supercars and faster than the space shuttle when it touches down.

The Venom GT hit 270.49 mph. The previous record was the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, which clocked 267.80 mph. The space shuttle touches down at a relatively sedate 225 mph.

Video of the record chase was a winner on YouTube with more than 600,000 views as of Tuesday morning.

With the Feb. 14 feat, the supercar claims the title of "World's Fastest Production Car" for the U.S., although that's a record Guinness can't sanction. The world-record keeper requires two runs "over a flying kilometer in opposite directions," as Fox News notes. And NASA couldn't authorize a second run at Kennedy.

Racing driver Brian Smith, behind the wheel, just wished he'd had more room. The driver was still accelerating when he ran out of space on the Kennedy track. Given an eight-mile oval track, he told Top Gear, "we could go faster than that."